


Pain Is Just Pain Entering The Body

by BleepBlorpMeepMorp



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Fluff, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, Grumpy idiot five, It's more an unrequited crush than a relationship, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No Spoilers, Obligatory Simon, POV Third Person, Season/Series 01, backrub, but I just suck at titles, the title makes it sounds like this is angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 02:37:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14510682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleepBlorpMeepMorp/pseuds/BleepBlorpMeepMorp
Summary: Just some mid season one fluff for Five/Sara. Some possible Five/Simon stuff in the first half if you're looking for it.





	Pain Is Just Pain Entering The Body

Five's back shifted uncomfortably against the wall they leaned against as they shifted their weight. Tapping a sneakered toe against the ground, they squinted at the focus of their attention. Across the courtyard, the door of the rec center opened, allowing a group of people to exit. If Five had counted right, that left it unoccupied. Pulling the brim of their hat low over their eyes & adjusting the collar of their anorak a little higher around their neck, they walked briskly over and slipped into the hopefully vacated building. Still trying to avoid notice, a final survey confirmed that they were alone. Privacy was a valuable commodity in Abel, even more so than hot showers, and Five had to move quick to not waste the result of several hours of stake out. 

Dropping any pretense at nonchalance, Five tore the anorak over their head, catching the brim of their hat and causing it to fly across the room only to be covered up by the discarded jacket. The t-shirt proved a bit more difficult, catching on their chin, temporarily masking face until a rough tug free it and it joined the other clothes in the pile. Using a precious second to smooth their ruffled hair and confirm they hadn't gained any company during the moment of blindness, they wasted no more time in getting to the reason they had come here. 

Grabbing the foam roller, Five aligned it under their shoulder blade and began working over the knot buried there. After a few experimental rolls they grunted, frustrated. The roller was broken down and soft from overuse. It'd be no use waiting for someone to bring in a new one, and Five doubted there'd be any new survivors that would happen to have made the decision to haul one with them instead of food or weapons as they traveled in from the woods surrounding Abel. 

Time was running out. They needed more pressure. Spotting a lone billiard ball in a box of loose junk, an anomaly given the lack of pool table but Five wasn't about to complain, they scooped it out and popped in under the center of the tension. This was better, but the positioning was wrong and they weren't able to get the right leverage lying on the ground. Starting to get desperate, a solution came to them.

Keeping their forearms on the ground for balance, they placed the ball of one foot, then the other up on the edge of a table and raised themselves up, suddenly immensely grateful for all of the glute bridges they had been doing lately as part of the runner's training regimen.

As they let their weight settle onto the ball, the relief was immediate and Five let out a soft moan as the painful tweak that they had been carrying for what felt like years, though it could only have been a few weeks, began to melt into a pleasant ache.

"Didn't peg you as one to take some, ahem, 'personal time' in a public area Five. You might put up a do not disturb sign next time, not that I'm judging of course."

At the sound of what's becoming an all too familiar voice suddenly coming from much too close for comfort, Five jerks. Their foot twists on the table edge, placing their center of gravity entirely on the billiard ball, which flew out from underneath them. Five's head cracked harshly against the concrete as their legs tumbled over them, landing in an ass over head position that would probably have been quite a good stretch if the fall hadn't managed to redo all the damage to Five's back, plus some surplus to their head and arms, and entire body really.

Simon sputtered. "You look like a cat trying to clean itself! You should see your face, even you would have to laugh. If I had a camera. Hold on, I think there's one the shelf. Oh don't glower. Not like it's likely to have any film then is it?"

He reached down, trying, not very hard though, to stop chuckling. Glaring from the gap between their knees that they could see out of, Five ignored the proffered hand, rolling onto their side in the other direction, before pushing themselves up with the arm on the less injured side of their body.

"Saw you stalking into here all gloomy and decided to come check up. And what _were_ you up to in here all by yourself." The eyebrow waggle was audible in his voice.

Five doesn't turn around and doesn't say anything, trying not to stomp as they went over to to their clothes. This was the worst possible outcome. The only thing to do was get dressed and escape.

"Can't say people putting clothes  _on_ when I come into a room is the usual order of events."

Simon was still talking. The heat rising in Five's cheeks matched the pounding in their head and the stabbing in their back as they considered if it'd be worth it to just sprint shirtless across the town to Dr. Myers for whatever minor pain medicine she might spare. Or to skip that all together and just go straight back to their cot and the flask they kept tucked inside their pillow. No, an extreme reaction would only give more fuel for later taunts.

Calmly as they could, Five turned their shirt right side back out and went to pull it over their head.

Pain roared through their back as soon as they started to lift their arm above their head. 

"Fuck!" Five dropped the shirt and brought the arm that was still mostly mobile around to prod at the center of the explosion. It didn't feel like anything was broken or ripped, but they definitely wouldn't be able use their arm normally for awhile.

The jovial tone in Simon's voice is quickly replaced with concern.

"Hey then, are you alright? Don't answer that, I know you'll just say you're fine."

He stepped a bit closer as Five went through a quick exploration of how much they could move without pain. Before he  could get within touching distance Five held up their usable hand to stop him.

Unperturbed, but taking a step back, hands raised in a calming motion, Simon continues talking. "Spot in your back giving your trouble? Looks like it's pretty bad."

Realizing how ridiculous it'd be to deny it at this point, Five nodded curtly. The motion is too sudden and drags what feels like a strand of razor wire up Five's spine. 

"Yeah. It's actually pretty bad," Five says through a grimace. They're in too much pain now to care about seeming tough, or stoic, or whatever the hell they've been going for as a survival technique since the apocalypse started.

"Has to be if you're going to let me know about it, isn't it." He gives a little laugh, still sounding worried, but a bit less obviously than earlier. Five's grateful for that. They're hurting, but not so much that they'd accept a pity party. Even if every hurting part of their body, and that's most of them at the moment, somehow fell off and crawled away they wouldn't.

His brow furrows, considering. "I could help you out with that. If you wanted." Catching the way Five's face twists he quickly raises his hands again in the settle down motion.

"No, I mean it. I've seen lots of injuries like this before. It would only take few minutes to start getting it right. Might not be fixed completely in one go, but it'd give you back some range of motion in your arm and help with the pain. Could get a better idea if there's a more serious problem too. I've got a sports massage certificate and everything, though if you want to see it to be sure it's a bit of a hike back to the gym where it's framed."

He saw the hesitation that remained on Five's face.

"No hard feelings if you're not up for it though. But you're going to do more harm than good if you go back at it with that... was it a billiard ball? We don't even have a pool table, who scrounged that up? Anyways, you might want to avoid supply runs or carrying heavy loads for a bit, but you realize that already I'd bet. Offers open if you change your mind. I'd tell you where to find me, but think we both know it's harder to avoid anyone than find them around here right?"

Giving a wave, he turned around and ambled towards the door.

Five sighed. It was apparent that what had started as a knot had become a problem that they wouldn't be able to fix with the cobbled together inventory of the rec center. The offer seemed sincere. Very kind actually, given how avoidant they'd been of Three up until then. Even Five knew there was a point at which it was stupid to not accept help, stupider than they were normally at least. And if they couldn't even get a shirt back on, how were they going to run the mission they had been assigned later that day?

"Hey, no, wait."

Simon started a little as Five called him back, before turning back around by spinning lazily on one foot.

"I would..." the sentence drew out as Five tried to frame their words in way that didn't sound either too desperate or standoffish. "I would very much appreciate your help with this." A pause again. "Please."

"Well alright then!  Just sit on down on," he glanced around. "That old computer chair will have to do. Nothing to rest you head on, but beggars can't be choosers and all that."

He rolled the chair over and Five settled in gingerly, trying to keep their back as stationary as possible as they settled their chest against the back support. Behind them, Five heard Simon give his fingers a quick crack. 

"Promise, you'll be feeling better in a heartbeat. This is the second best thing I can do with my hands, from what I've heard back."

Five kicks their legs out, shooting the chair forward and causing them to spin uncontrolled across the room. Luckily they stop before they crash into a wall or topple over. They untangle themselves from the seat as fast as they can and go back to their clothes. The run later today will just have to be put off. With luck, and shear probability given it's England, it'll be raining outside and no one will be around to see them make a half-naked trek back to the dormitories. 

"Oh no. It was a joke. I'm sorry." And Five believes he is from the kicked puppy sound in his voice, almost like how Sam sounds when Janine tells him to keep his snacks away from the soundboards. But between the pain and the embarrassment, they're done for now. Simon goes on. "Shouldn't have even mentioned it. You know me, always talking, never thinking."

"No. It's fine. I don't... " Five ignored the throb in their shoulder and the fluster in their voice. "Look. I'll handle this myself. Thank you very much. Sorry to have wasted your time."

"I'd say Three wastes his own time well enough on his own." Both Five and Simon turn to where Sara has stands across the room. Given it's not particularly unusual for Sara to suddenly appear out of nowhere, neither are all that startled. Five almost nods a greeting before catching them self, giving a half wave instead.

"You don't get to looking like this by wasting time Sara." The hurt is gone from Simon's voice as fast as it appeared, as he holds out his arms and gives himself a look up and down before looking back up to Sara with the usual smirk on his face. Sara's mouth almost twitches into a bemused smile before turning her attention to Five.

"Ah. I see you've been using the foam roller Five. A bit of a fan myself. Nothing like it for working out the iliotibial band." She catches the awkwardness in the air. "I'm not interrupting anything I hope."

"You're not. I'm on my way out."

"With no shirt and a face as red as a beet?"

Five's face goes from red to crimson. Sara's eyes stay locked with theirs, questioning, even after Five looks away.

Simon breaks the silence, "I just came in to look for the walkman. Jack and Eugene lent me some of their precious cds for a minute and I thought I might spend my next run listening to something a little more melodic than Sam, no offense to his lovely voice of course. Five's got their back in a mangle." Simon explains quickly, leaving out the rest and turns his face to them. "Just leaving. Going to go have a lie down yeah? Maybe even go see the beautiful Dr. Myers, though even without a medical emergency there's plenty of reason for that."

Sara ignores him and focuses back on Five. "Your back hurts?"

"Yeah."

"Badly?"

"Not too bad."

"Bad enough for you to be prefer standing on your clothes to putting them back on. I'm going to take a look." There isn't room for refusal in Sara's voice. She probably used to use that exact tone on her sons.

"I think Five's fine, Sara-"

"The walkman is on the table to your left Three." 

There's a moment of silence as him and Five look at the device. He picks it up. "Hiding right under my own nose the whole time, like always. Sometimes I think it's be easier if the thing just fell off.  It'd be the worst tragedy since the sphinx though. You'd all have to find a way to console yourselves at the loss. And of course there'd be the scuffle for the nose among my heartbroken fanclub." He waits another second. "On my way then. Five," he gives a grin and a nod. 

Five gives a slight smile back "Three. Have, uh, a safe run?"

"Where'd be the fun in that?" He turns towards Sara. The grin is a little smaller, but still there. "Sara," another nod. "Don't go breaking out the advanced torture techniques on poor Five just yet."

"I usually save those for the second date Three." Her voice is deadpan but there's an hint of humor that's keeps it from being unfriendly. Simon snorts, then leaves without glancing back and it's just Five and Sara.

"Alright honey. How bad is it? Really." 

Five's stomach flutters as Sara turns back to them. Her attention is locked on them just as strongly as it had been the first time they went on a run together, though the look in her eyes is much softer, and for Five that makes it much more frightening. There's an easy answer for how to act around someone who's threatening to shoot them. They fall back on their brief military training as they begin to speak, reporting damages.

"Can't raise my left arm. Right arm mostly unimpaired. Rotating my head is difficult. Can't bend over." 

"I see." Eight steps in, takes a closer look. Five isn't sure if it's better their shirt is off so that it doesn't show stains from the sweat that's starting to form, or if they'd feel less exposed with it on.

"You've got welts along the tops of your shoulders too. Did they not give you a properly sized backpack? You should have said something."

"The one I've got is fine," Five lies. They're not going to start being a complainer now, not in front of Eight who could probably go out with twice as much pain as Five's feeling and not say a peep. Could maybe even do it while carrying them... 

Thinking that is a mistake while they're unable to shake their head to clear their thoughts.

"No it's not." Her voice is completely serious now, patient, but with a touch of annoyance. "The one you have isn't fitted for your frame. That's why it's dragging on your shoulders like that and causing those marks. The pain in your back. It's beneath your shoulder blade, on the left?"

She doesn't wait for Five to finish their small nod.

"Your body has been making compensations for the poor weight displacement. Since you didn't nip the problem in the bud, it's grown into what you're dealing with. You're on regular duty rotation now. Letting yourself get put out of commission by completely avoidable injuries is irresponsible and unfair to the other runners. If you're going to be staying here, we need to be able to rely on you." She places her hand firmly on Five's good shoulder, her face what feels like inches away from Five's and they're unable to look away, the intensity in her eyes locking them in place. "Do you understand that?" She waits for Five to fully answer this time.

"Yeah. I mean, yes. I do. Fully. Sorry." Five manages to keep their voice above a mumble, though it's hard. "It wasn't this bad this morning. I was going to take care of it" they add on weakly.

"That'd be why you have the roller out then. Well, your heart was in the right place at least. Still, no excuse for letting it happen again alright?" Her eyes leave Five's and she touches the side of their head. "There's blood in your hair. That's not from a backpack"

Five's own hand, the movable one, darts up to where Sara's is touching and almost flies away again when it brushes against her, before gently prodding around. There is blood. Not a lot, but more on the outside than there normally is. It's dry though. They're bewildered for a moment before they remember.

"I was trying to roll over a billiard ball and slipped. The roller didn't work. Gave my head a bash, must have cut it without noticing. Ha, didn't even get this banged up in the helicopter crash."

Sara ignores the attempt at levity. "Your eyes look fine. I don't think you have a concussion." Sara's holding both sides of Five's face gently now, turning it slightly from side to side to avoid tweaking their neck as she looks for any other missed wounds. Five is struck once more about how fast they could run out of here and make it back to their flask. Sara was faster, and stronger, and a lot of other -ers, but with the right start...

"Yes. You're fine. Better make that stop by Dr. Myers that Three mentioned though, just to be safe." She pauses to laugh, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you talk to him Five. When I came in, and you two were acting like I had caught you going through Janine's private romance novel stash I almost thought... Well I don't actually know what I thought. Not that it's my business, but it's took me by surprise a bit."

"You thought...think...oh no. No, no, that wasn't what was going on."

"Like I said it's not my business."

"It's not like that though. He offered to help me with my back, and I said no. And then you came in."

"Did that offer have anything to do with why you slipped? You're usually not one to be clumsy Five." The laugh is still dancing along the edges of her voice.

"I was startled." Sara doesn't argue with them.

"We had to carry some pretty heavy bags back in my days at the old job. Didn't have the option of switching out for a properly sized one either. There's a trick I know from back then. It'll hurt, a lot, but only for a moment. Do you want me to do it?"

"It can't hurt much more than it already does, to be honest. I'd like to try it, if you think it'll work."

"There's my Five. Not afraid of anything." Five wonders if saying that was the trick, given the way their heart seizes and the pain in their back disappears for a moment.

"You're going to want to be sitting down for this."

Five settles back into the computer chair from earlier and tries to avoid tensing up as Sara's hands land on their bare skin. Her fingertips are warm and slightly rough. Every moment they make as the glide along Five's back is distinct and the hair stands up on the back of their neck as if electrified. Humming softly, Eight works her way slowly towards the spot, tapping lightly in some places, rubbing with long strokes in others. Five keeps expecting her to hit a sore spot, but Sara seems know exactly where to touch them. They let out a puff of air as they relax. They could spend the rest of their life like this, but too soon Sara finds the point she's been looking for. It's actually a bit off from where Five though it would be. Lower, more towards their lateral body.

"Here's the spot. Like I said, it's going to be painful and you're going to wish I hadn't done it for a few minutes until the pain dies down. I'm not trying to scare you, but it'd be wrong to not let you know what you're agreeing to. Do you trust me?"

"With my life" Five responds immediately before they can catch themselves. There's a moment before Sara replies.

"Alright then," Eight's breath moves the hair around Five's ear. "You're going to breathe in, then out, as deep as you can without hurting yourself. We'll do it together, about five times. Starting now."

Five knows this trick, where you're supposed to breathe a certain amount of times to get ready for something painful, and before you've finished breathing the thing's already been done, so you don't have time to panic. So when they actually finish the fifth breath, they're too confused to tense up before Sara punches a knuckle with the strength of a heavy weight boxer right into the spot she'd found. Lights exploded across Five's vision, and they'd scream if they weren't choking, unable to breath after the meteoric impact. All they can hear is a ringing noise. 

Slowly, the ringing dies down. Air begins to flow back into Five's lungs as they take deep gulps of air, barely even noticing how their rib cage is free to expand again.

"...... _five._ " Sara's voice starts to rise in Five's ears. "...five. FIVE!"

Coughing, Five gives a thumbs up. "I was wrong. So wrong. That really hurt a lot more."

"I'm sorry honey. I gave you all the warning I could. If there was another way I could have-"

Five interrupted her. "No, you did it, fixed it. I feel great. Amazing actually." They slowly twisted their head from side to side, up and down, raised their arm and rotated in a slow circle, looking for any residual tightness and finding none.

"Barely even remember how much it hurt now."

"I suppose that means it was worth it then." Sara stood back to let Five stand up. "You'll probably be wanting these back," she said as she passed them the t-shirt and anorak. Five pulled the shirt over their head, going a little slower than might have been strictly necessary but enjoying the way their muscles stretched easily now. They looked up from zipping up the windbreaker to catch Eight looking at them with an unreadable look, even by her standards. Now that the ache was gone, there was nothing to distract Five from the nervousness that that look caused.

"Thank you. A lot. Very much. Should I speak to Rajiit about the backpack?" Five words stumble. "It'll get done, getting the new backpack, but I'm not sure if I can do it before my run at-"

"RUNNER FIVE TO THE FRONT GATES. I REPEAT RUNNER FIVE TO THE FRONT GATES."

"...my run at now, then. I'm supposed to be looking for gasoline. Do you need any..." Five dies a little inside before finishing, "...of that?"

Sara hides her mouth behind her hand again.

"I can't say I do, but you're a sweetheart for asking. You're still going to be a bit weak. Remember to store anything you end up not being able to bring home in a cache. And it's our secret that I told you about Janine's novels. She'd never tell me anything juicy again if she knew I was that loose with intel."

"Of course. I'm going now," they gesture with a thumb to the door. "Thanks again, I mean, it would probably be-"

"RUNNER FIVE TO THE FRONT GATES NOW"

Giving themselves a shake, Five falls into working mode, straightening up and setting their face. "Thank you." And with that they jog out the door.

 

        

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my fucked up back, even more fucked now from sitting like a gremlin while I wrote this. If anyone wants to come and punch me in the back irl until this stupid knot goes away, hit me up.


End file.
